This Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 SL-II is a very compact ultrawide lens that comes in versions for Nikon, Canon EOS and Pentax. (The Pentax mount has been discontinued from lack of interest.)

This Voigtländer. is even smaller and lighter than Nikon's smallest 20mm lens, the Nikon NIKKOR 20mm f/4.

I am addressing the Nikon version here, and using it on full-frame. You may make the usual inferences when used on different cameras or formats. I'll compare it to Canon lenses, too, if you read the review carefully.

It works great on just about any camera, especially on Nikon FX and Canon full-frame cameras.

The Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 is a manual-focus lens, and has an on-board computer to work with the meters and electronics all Nikon manual focus, autofocus and digital cameras.

So long as you don't mind moving the ultra-smooth focus ring all by yourself, this AI-P type lens should be compatible with every Nikon made since 1977.

The Canon version also has CPU contacts for what should be complete compatibility with metering and exposure automation on any of the Canon EOS 35mm and digital cameras made from 1987 through today. You have to focus by hand (look for the AF sensor blips to confirm focus instantly), and otherwise you're all set.

Because most anti-reflection coatings become differently efficient at different angles, often ultra-wide lenses show color shifts towards blue in the corners. This has been around since film; it's not an artifact of electronic sensors.

The Voigtländer 20mm f/3.5 SL-II is an optically and ergonomically superb lens, but it's too expensive. For the same price, you can buy the real manual-focus Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AI-s or autofocus Nikon 20mm f/2.8 AF-D.

The reasons to get this Voigtländer over Nikon is:

Small size and weight.

Better ability to use stacked filters.

Much better ghost resistance than Nikon's fixed 20mm lenses, but same as 16-35mm VR and 14-24mm.

This Voigtländer lens gives the same optical performance as the 16-35mm VR and 14-24mm, albeit with more distortion, but with only one-third to one-fifth the weight, and a fraction of that volume.

Don't let me whine too much about price; this lens is made by the same company that makes the Zeiss lenses that are way too big and sell for even more money. I'd be much more likely to buy one of these Voigtländer lenses for myself (I did buy the 40mm f/2) than any of Zeiss' behemoths.

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